The Voice (Francistown)
Chedza Simon
29 April 2008
Francistown — Population Services International (PSI) has launched insecticide treated mosquito nets in their effort to help government prevent the spread of Malaria.
PSI Country Representative Soumitro Ghosh said that Malaria claims an estimated 2.7 million lives every year the world over majority being children and that in the country, Malaria has claimed many lives of children and adults alike.
Speaking at the launch of the special mosquito nets, Ghosh said: "There are many problems in the country which PSI has been dealing with and we now want to focus on Malaria. We want to prevent Malaria from spreading and we cannot wait until it has affected the population. We have to save lives while time allows.
"The special nets known as Permanets that we are launching are specially treated with household insecticide chemicals that are harmless. The chemicals are repellants and would kill any insect that comes into contact with them. Mosquitoes cannot go through the nets and these nets are high quality and can last for about four years. If washed, treatment does not easily wash out and they can last 100 washes," he revealed.
The PSI Country Representative noted that the nets would be provided to pharmacies and other retailers at a commercial price. "Pharmacies will sell them at P80 to recover costs," he said
Ghosh explained that while the nets would be available for sale, PSI appreciates that there are some people who cannot afford these products.
"We acknowledge that some might not afford the nets which is why we are entreating government to subsidise some of these products so that average citizens could afford to own them."
The mosquito nets, Ghosh said have been introduced in Francistown, Maun, Kasane and other areas where incidents of Malaria are relatively higher.
PSI manages Malaria control projects in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and South America.
In 2005, Ghosh revealed, PSI delivered more than 8.4 million mosquito nets, over 10 million insecticide treatment kits and 3.6 million Malaria treatment making it one of the largest distributors in the world and the important implementing partner of the global roll back Malaria partnership.
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